The Labyrinth 2002: Game of Mazes
by King Kate
Summary: Sarah had beaten Jareth at his own game. Now, with the skills she learned from him she is moving on. Two years later Jareth is back pulling Sarah into another one of his games. Though she tries to ignore his tempting he has learned some new skills of his own. Left questioning what is reality and what is game Sarah will have to navigate the maze of her own mind to escape.
1. Info

Hey everyone, some of you may have read my story The Labyrinth 2000 where I retold the same story with a modern day twist. I was asked while I was creating the story if I had planned on getting Sarah and Jareth together. At the time my answer was that I would tell the story the way the movie did but I had promised to think about writing a sequel where I would attempt to get them together. This is that sequel.

If you haven't read my original story and would like to read this one I would recommend checking it out.

One of the problems I know I will run into is how I am going to get Sarah and Jareth together properly. I can't push them together without some lead up and by keeping to Jareth's character there isn't a lot of room for a relationship to form. But somehow, by the end of this story, I hope to have them living happily ever after. Or something like that.

Please don't rush the chapters releases, since I have very few clues on how I am going to write the story. I will just tell you that the chapters will be released when they are done.

Thank you for your patience and enjoy the story.


	2. Chapter 1

Note: All rights go to the real creators of the Labyrinth. I don't own any of this. Tis but a fan fiction.

Chapter 1

"If you don't like your classes why don't you just quit?" Hoggle asked from the screen of a computer.

He sat, along with Ludo and Sir Didymus, in a pixilated garden that Sarah had designed for them. Hoggle was slouched over, his arms crossed, and his crawfish face scrunched together to show his annoyance.

All around no one could hear the animation talking. That was the beauty of headphones.

IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE.

Sarah typed silently so not to disturb the rest of the people in front of her.

When Sarah entered her electric design classroom she had gone straight for a seat in the back corner. There she could turn her laptop that was required for the class away from everyone else.

To most people Sarah's laptop was surprisingly ordinary. It was black all over with a large screen. Unlike others in her class she had chosen not to place decorative stickers, cases, or pictures on it. But despite this the laptop was never out of her sight. Besides the brief period of time Sarah was in the bathroom she had her computer in her arms or open in front of her.

In her first years in college she had earned plenty of nicknames due to her habit of keeping her computer. Things had only gotten worse due to her secrecy about what was on it. Although if they ever did see what Sarah was doing on her computer they probably would have bullied her further.

"It should be that simple," he grumbled. "You're already a hundred times smarter than those people. If you don't wanna be somewhere you should be allowed to leave when you want."

I NEED THE CREDIT TO GRADUATE. THERE IS ONLY ANOTHER MONTH LEFT ANYWAY.

"But you never have to show up to classes, right? They don't know nothin' about you."

IT LOOKS BETTER WHEN I ACTUALLY SHOW UP.

"Sarah… sad?" Ludo chimed in.

NO, JUST BORED.

"Milady should get more rest." Didymus suggested.

THANKS BUT I DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME FOR THAT.

Class ended not long after that. When it was over Sarah collected her laptop, said goodbye to her friend for the moment, and hurried back to her room.

Ever since she had defeated the Labyrinth game that had been designed by the evil, baby stealing, Jareth, her friends had been booted from their system. Having nowhere else to go Sarah had created a private place in her own computer for them to hide out.

Jareth had no control over them anymore.

But for two years Sarah had been cautious. Anything she did online, which was very little, she monitored carefully. She had become increasingly good at computer programming. Maybe not as good as Jareth, but certainly good enough to fight him on a level playing field if he had ever surfaced again.

Her friends didn't know what had become of him. She had even spent some time searching for him to prove to herself that he did exist. So far her search had drawn up no leads as to who he really was.

Back in her room she found her roommate Erin was still in class. With the time to herself she figured she wouldn't need her headphones.

"Okay, I'm back you guys." She informed them.

Everyone was in the back of the garden lounging in the shade. When they notice her coming back they quickly race over to the screen.

"You're out of class now?" Hoggle asked.

"Yep, I'm free for the rest of the day. Anything you guys need while I'm free?" Sarah had been teaching herself programming by designing furniture and items for her friends in their new world. It made them happy and helped her improve her skills.

"We are satisfied as we are, My Lady." Didymus assured her with a bow.

The first thing that Sarah had designed was a new knights costume for her fox friend. She had sharpened his sword, sewed up all of his rips, and washed them properly. Hoggle had begun to complain about the smell since Didymus had spent all his time living near the Bog.

Hoggle hadn't asked her for many things. He had a garden that had just happened to be part of the original design of the garden and had been content to add new flowers and veggies from time to time.

Ludo was the only one of her friend who had never asked her for anything. Whenever Sarah offered him anything he had just smiled and shook his big goofy head. All he wanted was to see Sarah smiling.

Just as Sarah was getting ready to sit down the door to their room opened.

"Hey Sarah," Erin greeted her, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Erin was a lot of things Sarah wasn't. She was daring and always ready to try new things. Her hair was cropped short and dyed a bright colour of pink. When she smiled her thin lips pulled up into dimples. She had bright blue eyes but people rarely saw them. Each day she would put in different colour contacts to match her bright outfit.

Sarah felt very plain next to her. Since she was a teenager she hadn't changed her wardrobe. Her hair was still the same length and colour. She never wore coloured contacts. Even her jeans were the same pair she had worn when she was in high school.

"No, nothing," she shut her computer quickly. "I thought you had a lab for the next hour."

"It got canceled," she gave Sarah a thumbs up.

"That's good."

After that very little conversation was had. Sarah didn't feel comfortable opening her laptop back up for fear that Erin would ask what she was doing. They had only lived together for a couple of months but Sarah knew that her roommate would always try to figure out what she was doing, even when she clearly didn't want to talk about it.

Thankfully she wouldn't have to wait long to be able to talk to her friends again.

Erin came out from the bathroom with a lime-green dress on with matching contacts. Sarah knew that it meant she was going out with friends. That was the good thing about Erin; she never spent much time in her room.

Sarah waited silently, pretending to read a book, until there was a knock at the door. Erin's friends, each with equally as colourful hair, pull her out the door cooing over their plans for the night. The door shuts slowly behind her.

As soon as she was alone she whipped her computer open again. But instead of her friends faces smiling back at her she found a notification blocking her screen. She had one new unread message in her email box.

She didn't think anything of the email since she got a few everyday from the university. The notifications were only turned on because she had a habit of not checking her email when she needed to.

She hit the link directing her to her email page. Surprisingly the message wasn't just another email from her school reminding her of some useless event being held on campus. It was from her dad.

For a moment Sarah didn't know what to do. Her father hadn't spoken to her since she left for school two years before. She had made it clear to him that as long as he was going to spend all of his money on her brother, not that she minded all that much, than he shouldn't bother her while she attempts to make her own way in life.

She had come to terms with her brother and decided that he was not someone she should hate. It wasn't his fault that her parents were bad parents. A father shouldn't ignore his daughter just because there is another child in the picture. So Sarah decided she was done hanging around just to be the babysitter.

So off she went to school. She had left a gift for Toby and said very little to her father.

He had told her that she didn't have to go if she wasn't ready. She told him to find someone else to look after his kid when he wanted to pretend he never had children. They hadn't said a word to each other since then.

Over the summer Sarah worked at the college to keep her room. She never thought about going home.

Now there was an email from her dad sitting in front of her. There was no subject telling her what he might want.

She thought about asking her friends for advice. She didn't know what she would do if they told her not to read it. She didn't know what she would do if they told her she should read it.

Instead she sat staring at the screen debating what to do. There was no way she could delete it. What if it was something important? She could leave it for later but she didn't know what she would tell her friends.

Hesitantly she clicked on the email to open it. But instead of a note all there was was a blank screen.

Sarah reloaded the email thinking that there must have been some sort of mistake. No one would purposely send a blank email.

It could have just been the internet offered by the school not allowing it to be shown. Sometimes when there were too many people online items, even emails, didn't load properly. The only way she would be able to read it, if that were true, would be to look at the code that came with it. If she went in the back door to the email she might be able to recover what he had written.

The only other option would be to wait until the other people decided to get offline. Even then there was no promise that it would load properly.

Besides, this way was more fun and gave her a chance to practice her skills.

It took her only a few second to pull up the code. And just as she had thought there was a message that hadn't been loading. But oddly the font on the message seemed to be too small for her to read.

Trying to zoom in on the words did her nothing. It started to frustrate her. The words were big enough that she could almost make them out but just small enough that she couldn't read what they said. If zooming in wouldn't work she didn't know what was wrong.

Desperate at that point she picked her computer up and brought it close to her face. So close she thought she could make out a couple of words.

YOUR EYES CAN BE SO CRUEL

Before she could register what they meant a bright light flashed out of her screen. A warm glow enveloped her head. The computer fell from her hands.

She fell into a deep sleep.


	3. Chapter 2

Note: All rights go to the real creators of the Labyrinth. I don't own any of this. Tis but a fan fiction.

Chapter 2

A while later Sarah opened her eyes and found that she was lying on a dirt road. It took her a moment to remember what had happened to her. Something had caused a virus on her computer and she had passed out. Somehow that didn't make any sense to her at all.

She got to her feet to observe her surroundings. At once she recognized the high brick walls and overgrown pathways. She was back inside the Labyrinth.

Above her the sun was already high in the sky. She had no idea how she had gotten there.

When she had gotten home the first time she had gone straight to her room to destroy the game. She broke it into pieces and scattered them across her backyard where she hoped they could never be found again. The only other way she could think that this could happen would be for Jareth himself to pull her in.

Speaking of which…

"Alright, where are you, you lying, cheating, scum!" She yelled at the walls.

There was no response.

She pounded a hand against the wall. "I didn't agree to be a part of your game this time. You have no power over me!"

Before such tactics would have destroyed the game. This time nothing happened.

She closed her eyes, concentrating like she had before. She pictured the walls shattering around her. Before she could pull on the codes that held everything together. This time she couldn't feel anything different. It was like she was standing in the real world with nothing at all to control.

"That isn't going to work," a voice called out.

Sarah looked up to meet the mismatched eyes of Jareth. He was standing a few feet away from her, watching her intently.

He was exactly as Sarah had remembered him. Tall, fit, with short blond hair cut so that it hangs in his eyes. His lips pulled up into a mischievous smile that glitters in his eyes. When he moved he did so with an elegance that stunned her.

Now he moved towards her. Slowly he reached out so that she could see every movement. When he touched her it was softly, delicately as though she would bolt at any moment.

Sarah was so surprised at his touch that she didn't move. He stroked her cheek lovingly with the back of his hand. One hand slipped along her back, locking her in place so that she couldn't escape.

The hand on her cheek moved to her neck. One long finger rang the length of the back of her neck, coaxing her head to one side. His lips brushed against her cheek until she could feel his breath at her ear.

"Let our game begin," he whispered.

Sarah took a deep breath to steady herself and then passed out again.

She opened her eyes with a start. Sitting up in her bed she found she was out of breath. Her face was heated and her hair was tangled.

Outside the sun, which had been setting when she had gotten home, was now replaced by darkness. On her bed in front of her was her computer. It was still open and the battery sign was flashing to warn her it was dead.

Normally she would have gone straight for her cable so that she could continue speaking with her friends. But she was so confused and thrown that she didn't know what to say to them. If they noticed her state they would worry.

She rushed to the bathroom. In the mirror she could see that she was stilled flushed. Along her cheek where Jareth had put his hand she could see the fading outline of his fingers on her blushing skin.

With her back against the wall she sank against the floor.

She hadn't seen or heard from Jareth for two years. All that time she had feared the moment that they might come together again. Before she had been so angry with him that she could never hear what he had said when he spoke.

In the two years since then she had thought about it quite a bit. She couldn't deny that he was attractive. She couldn't even deny that there was a part of her that could be seriously attracted to him. But there was another part of her, the one that shouted at her strongest of all, that knew just how dangerous he truly was. She just couldn't ignore everything he had put her through.

His words came back to her, "let our game begin." What had he meant by that? She hadn't agreed to play any game. And why should she agree to play? There was nothing in it for her this time. Before she was fighting for Toby. There was nothing on the line, no prize for her to win by playing.

If he thought she was just going to go along with his game he had another thing coming. She wasn't playing.

She stood and headed back into her room. It was late at night by then. Normally she would be talking to her friends late into the night. But she still didn't think that she could face them after what she had been through.

She needed sleep in the worst way. It would give her the chance to think about things. In the morning she would be feeling better and then she could talk to her friends about what happened. All she needed was sleep.


	4. Chapter 3

Note: All rights go to the real creators of the Labyrinth. I don't own any of this. Tis but a fan fiction.

Chapter 3

In the morning Sarah was feeling better. She had almost been able to convince herself that it had all been a bad dream. But despite that she still didn't think she could tell her friends what had happened. They would think too much into it and start panicking if they knew.

As she was getting up she noticed that Erin had come home very late last night. She was lying on top of her blankets, still wearing the green dress she had on when she left. Her hair was messed and from what Sarah could tell she looked a little drunk.

Sarah went over to their shared mini fridge and took out two bottles of water. She opened both and placed them on the table beside her bed. When she woke up she was going to need them.

Then she went about getting ready for her day. Her laptop was charged so she took it into the bathroom with her so not to disturb Erin while she slept.

She opened it and pressed the power button, waiting for it to turn on. But no matter how many times she tried nothing happened. She tried brining her charging cable in and hooking it up but still it wouldn't turn on.

What would her friends do if she couldn't get it fixed? She didn't know of a way to transfer them over to another computer yet. They had figured they would have a few more years before they had to worry about it.

"Crap…" Sarah whispered.

Her watch told her that it was almost time for class. She didn't want to go. She wanted to stay in her room all day until she figured out how to get her friends back. But there was no way she could.

She had to go to class. When she got back she figured she would take the computer to the tech department if it wasn't working by then.

It would be hard for her to attend any of her classes without her computer. She never did much work on her computer but it would be harder to fake it without it. She would just have to wing it until class was over.

Professor Spanner normally didn't pay much attention to the class anyway. It was a small class. There wasn't much of a chance of her getting away with it with any other professor.

Erin was still sleeping when she snuck out the door ten minutes later. She hadn't eaten breakfast, which was normal for this class since it was early and short.

The walk across campus took longer than it should have. Her mind was wrapped up worrying about her friends. She didn't know how she was supposed to concentrate in class knowing that she may never see her friends again. Somehow she would have to at least look like she was paying attention.

When she walked into class she took her usual seat at the very back. The Professor wasn't there yet giving her time to hide herself in the sea of people. No one questioned her missing laptop. In fact no one paid her any attention when they came in. They all opened their computers and began typing away.

Sarah made a show of studying her textbook carefully, though she had never read it. Footsteps entered the classroom moving towards the front where the projector was. No one said anything so Sarah assumed that it was Spanner coming in late.

"Alright class…" Sarah's head jerked up at the English drawl, "Let's begin."

Sarah's gaze met Jareth's as he stood before the class. His hair was slicked back and he wore a suit befitting a professor, not a King. It looked so wrong that Sarah was unsure it was really him at first.

He smiled maliciously at her before turning his attention back to the class. No one acted like there was anything wrong going on. They continued typing as though their professor hadn't been replaced with a man looking too young to teach.

He started to speak, talking about computer codes and programs, but Sarah was hardly listening. She couldn't understand what was going on. How had he gotten to her school? What did he intend to do now that he was there? And why was everyone so calm about him being there?!

Suddenly he slammed the book he was holding shut, ending his speech.

"Alright, you have your assignments," he told them, "Get to work and hand them to me before you leave."

Everyone had a piece of paper out and began scribbling furiously. Sarah, who didn't bring any supplies with her to class, didn't know what to do. She didn't have to wait long.

"Ms Williams, at the front for a moment," he motioned with two fingers.

Her first thought was that she should run away. She could go back to her room, barricade herself there, and maybe convince Erin that she wasn't completely crazy. But who knows how long that would work. He would find her eventually if he wanted to.

So she stood and made her way slowly to the front of the room. On her way she managed to work herself up to yell at him once she had his attention. She stormed up to his desk and stood in front of him, arms crossed.

He looked up at her with a sly smile.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded.

His fingers played across the pages of a book opened on the desk in front of him. "I'm playing the game."

"What game? I told you I didn't want to play."

He just smiled. Slowly he raised the book in his hands with his fingers along the spine. He held it under her nose as though he wanted her to read it.

She glanced down but didn't see anything worth reading. He held it closer, tempting her.

As she leaned closer to see the words properly he snapped the book closed. A plume of dust erupted in her face causing her to choke.

The dust burned her eyes and lungs until she managed to get her breath back. When she opened her eyes she was no longer in the auditorium.


	5. Chapter 4

Note: All rights go to the real creators of the Labyrinth. I don't own any of this. Tis but a fan fiction.

Chapter 4

A long hallway stretched out before her. The walls were bare and white with black and white tiled floors and dim lights hanging from the ceiling. A set of doors was locked behind her leaving her no choice but to go forward.

She took a few uncertain steps, unsure where she was and how she had gotten there? Before she had looked into her computer when she changed locations. Dust from a book couldn't do that.

As she walked down the hall the lights behind her turned off once she exited their reach. Eventually a figure came into view standing before a small window. She didn't need anyone to tell her who it was.

"Why are you doing this?" She called.

He glanced at her mildly. "It's part of the game."

"What game?"

"Our game," he says simply.

She stopped a few feet short of him. If he was going to try to touch her again he would have to move on her.

"That means nothing to me."

He smiles. "I would like to propose a prize for our game."

"What is the game?"

He abandoned his spot on the wall to step towards her.

"One more maze, one more prize."

She just glared at him.

"Don't look at me like that," he pouted. "It's different this time."

"Different how?"

"Last time, you had no choice in joining the game. This time you do," he offered.

Sarah frowned, "Then why the hell would I play?"

"Then you would lose," he said.

Sarah gritted her teeth, turning away from him so she could regain her composure. She couldn't deal with him this way.

"I'm not playing and I'm not losing anything," she told him.

He shrugged. "Wouldn't you at least like to hear the rules?"

She sighed but said nothing.

"Another Labyrinth. But this time you don't fight me. You have to win on your own."

"Win what?"

He looks at her sternly, "hush now, dear, I am getting to it."

She waited as patiently as she could. While she waited she made a show of studying the tiles on the floor, counting each black one and each white one.

Finally he went on. "You see, Sarah, since you left my game I have had a rather hard time moving on. I've never had an opponent beat me before. Especially not one so young. It left a lasting impression in my lonely heart."

"Your lonely heart," Sarah echoed.

"Yes," he shot her a sharp look, "And for two years now I have been trying to get over it. But, well, I can't seem to do that. So what else am I to do but create one more game?"

"You could find someone else," she suggested.

"Can't do that. All that's left to do is try again. Which brings us back to our little game. Like I said, one more Labyrinth, only this time I won't be giving you the luxury of having your friends along," he paused for a moment, waiting for her reaction. When she maintained a straight face he continued with a pout. "You will face seven challenges. If you can beat them all you win."

"And what do I win?"

He smiled mischievously at that. "Your freedom."

"You're going to hold me captive if I lose?" She asked, horrified.

"No, no," he assured her, "Not in the sense you are thinking. I want you and you want to be free of me. If you win you get your wish. If you lose… I get mine."

That stopped her from saying anything more. If she didn't win she would be tied to Jareth. That's what he was saying. But what did that mean? Did she have to go out with him? Did she have to marry him? She didn't know if she liked either option.

"What if I say no?" She said quietly.

He shrugged elegantly, "Then you lose. If you want we can skip all the trouble and go to dinner. I'm a great cook…"

"No!" She shouted, "I beat you before and I will beat you again."

"That's what you want?" He honestly looked disappointed. His eyes trained downwards then and he refused to look at her.

"Yes. I want to decide my own way in life," she told him.

He said nothing. His eyes remained fixed on the ground. For a long moment a soft silence hung in the air. Sarah said nothing.

Then, without warning, he flung his hand up. Sarah flinched, afraid he was going to hit her. Instead the tiles peeled from the floor around her, caving in. The floor fell out beneath her.

Before she could scream or reach out to him she blacked out.

PS: Please be patient with the uploading of chapters from now on because I got a puppy and it is taking a lot of time out of my day.


	6. Chapter 5

Note: All rights go to the real creators of the Labyrinth. I don't own any of this. Tis but a fan fiction.

Chapter 5

Sarah opened her eyes lying in bed once again. Very slowly she turned her head to the side to see that things were just as they were when she had gone to class before. Erin was still asleep in her bed. Her computer was sitting open at her feet, the screen blank, not responding.

She knew better than to try to make it work. If Jareth had returned then he would have taken her friends away from her easily. If she could beat him then maybe she could get them back. She just had to win at a game where she didn't know what to do.

She got out of bed and headed for the bathroom to get ready again. Game or no game she still had to go to class.

Before she left she couldn't help but try one last time to get her computer to work. Nothing happened, just as she had suspected.

With a sigh she stepped out into the hall. She moved out backwards so that she could close the door quietly behind her. There was no point in waking Erin up.

As she turned around she was shocked, although she thought she shouldn't have been, to find that she was not standing in the dorm hallway. Instead she was standing in a dark hallway.

The space around her door was illuminated brightly to make it look like a hallway in her dorm. But instead of lightbulbs she found oddly bright candles attached to the wall like torches.

She figured it must have been part of the first challenge.

For a moment she stood stunned. She hadn't expected Jareth to start the game so soon. There should have been enough time for her to wrap her head around the idea and come up with a game plan. But that was probably Jareth's plan all along.

Hesitantly she tried the door. Locked. Knocking didn't help. Even if Erin were to wake up it was unlikely she would be able to hear Sarah from where she was.

Reluctantly she peeled away from the safety of the doorway to make her choice. Left or right. The way she saw it there was no difference between the two. In the past both paths led to the same conclusion if you knew how to take them.

Sarah hoped she still remembered.

She took the torch from the wall to guide her through the darkness. Trying to put on a brave face she went off alone to the right, just as she had done on her first visit to the Labyrinth.

It didn't take long for her to come to her first turn. She took it gladly, remembering how little chances she got before to turn on her first try. When the floor began to slant downwards she put a hand on the wall to steady herself.

As she continued down the hall she noticed that the walls began changing. Slowly rough edges began to replace the smooth surface until the walls became cold and damp.

A quick check with her torch confirmed that she was entering a cave. Up ahead of her she noticed that there was a light that she hadn't noticed before due to her own torch.

She rushed towards it, hopeful to be out of the darkness. But when she got to the room where the light was coming from she saw, with horror, that she was standing inside what appeared to be an oubliette.

Years ago she had stood in one almost exactly the same. The candle Hoggle had lit was still sitting on the table in the centre of the room. The skylight where she had fell through was there, closed as well. She wondered if she opened it if she would see the helping hands again. The only thing missing was Hoggle.

Sarah looked around for a moment, wondering if she had gone the wrong way. Behind her there is a scratching noise.

"Who's there?" She called before she could stop herself.

"Me…" A horse laugh echoed around her.

She turned around to see Hoggle standing in the light of the candle. A smile grew on her face.

"Hoggle, you're here!" She rushed forward to pull the dwarf into a hug.

"Yeah I am," he huffs.

"How did you get here? Jareth said that you guys wouldn't be able to help me!"

At that Hoggle took a step back, looking away. Sarah knew that look. It was the coward in him coming out. She hadn't seen it in two years. Not since she was in the Labyrinth last.

"What's wrong Hoggle?"

"Well," he took a few steps away form her, "I'm not here to help you. I'm kinda… the challenge."

Sarah blinked. "What?"

Hoggle turned ten shades of red. "Jareth told us all that we only have to get you to admit all of your feelings for us if you wanted to pass the test."

"What is that even supposed to mean?" She demanded.

Hoggle took a seat on the floor to try to explain it to her.

"You see… He seems to think that you've been havin' some trouble with you emotions since you came to the game-"

"Even if that were true it would be his fault!"

"I know," he told her, "but thems the rules. To pass the challenge you have to figure out what emotion I represents for you."

"Emotion?"

"Yep. Says you must figure out what we really mean to you."

Sarah scoffed. "You mean the emotions he thinks you mean to me."

He shrugged. "Like I said, I don't make the rules."

Sarah paced. The game didn't sound so hard but she still found herself feeling uncertain. What was he playing at?

She stopped.

"Okay, fine, I'm here so I guess I have no choice but to try to finish this. So let's see… What emotions do I feel for you?"

He straightened up to give her a better look at him. She giggled at the effort.

"When I look at you Hoggle I feel…" she paused for a moment. "I feel brave and courageous."

Around her two lights sprung to life. She gazed at the blue flames that floated around her and Hoggle, a circle of fire keeping them together.

"Keep going. I think it's working!" Hoggle urged her.

"Okay," she had to think, "um, I feel happy? And a little bit of pity. Betrayal…"

Another couple of lights go on and Hoggle's face falls. Around them flames danced in a circle leaving only one place left.

"What am I missing?" She asked.

Hoggle's eyes were focused on the floor. "Don't know nothin'."

"How can I be missing something? That's everything I think I have ever felt for you! You're my friend. Of course I would feel good emotions for you."

But still there was one light left unlit. She thought hard. Maybe once she had been curious about him, when they had first met. But even then she knew he would be a part of the game. She felt very rushed for time and no words could come to her that she could think of.

"I don't know what to do Hoggle…" She said, tears in her eyes.

He perked up a little, putting on a brave face for her. "You can do it, Sarah, you always do. Don't worry about my feelings. We're friends, just like you said. You have to win this game!"

She thought harder.

"Maybe I felt a little angry when you betrayed me. I was angry a lot of the time. But I was mostly angry with Jareth at the time! It wasn't just you!"

The final flame burst to life. Hoggle smiled but in his eyes Sarah could see sadness. The flames, suddenly moving, began closing in on Hoggle. Before Sarah could react Hoggle disappeared in a white glow.

Sarah gasped. She rushed forward to try to help him but it was too late. Where he had once stood was nothing more than a small figurine of a suit of armour.

She picked it up and weighed it in her hands. It was about the size of her hand with a flat bottom as though it was meant to sit on a shelf. Judging by the weight of it she suspected it was made of something more expensive than plastic.

She held it tightly in her hand. Hoggle was her armour. And she wasn't going to let his hard work go to waste.


	7. Chapter 6

Note: All rights go to the real creators of the Labyrinth. I don't own any of this. Tis but a fan fiction.

Chapter 6

"Feeling a little down are we, love?" Jareth's voice came from the cavern.

"What did you do to him?" Sarah asked without turning.

She could hear the steps he takes behind her as he moves around. Her eyes remain on the suit of armour in her hands.

"I didn't do anything to poor Higgle," he drawled. "You passed your first challenge. That is your first key."

The armour in her hands felt heavier than ever.

"Is Hoggle okay?"

"He will be fine if you are able to finish the challenges. If not then he will just go back to the way he was before. No harm done either way," he shrugged.

She stood then and faced him. He was standing at the far end of the room watching her quietly. Being in such a tight space he still was't far from her.

She held out the suit of armour to him.

"Am I supposed to give this to you?" She asked.

He shook his head. "It's your key. You must put it in the key hole."

"And where is-"

Before she could finish he held his hands out where a large wooden box appeared. For the first time he came towards Sarah in the small space. She let him come to her.

When he was standing in front of her, so close they were almost touching, he held the box out for her to open.

Sarah opened it slowly. She didn't trust Jareth.

After a moment, sensing that there was nothing wrong, she peaked inside. What she saw was just a stand with metal arms waiting for the key.

"Just place it inside," he instructed her.

"What will happen then?" She hesitated.

"Sarah," he teased her, "I can't tell you that. You have to figure it out for yourself."

She thought about it for a moment. Honestly, she figured she had nothing to lose. He wasn't going to hurt her. He had nothing to gain by dong so.

Slowly she placed the armour in its spot. It took her a moment to let go. It felt like she was abandoning Hoggle to Jareth again. Eventually, though, she was able to will herself to let go.

Once she withdrew her hand Jareth slammed the chest shut. A cloud of dust filled her vision.

She coughed and waved her hand to clear the air. When she opened her eyes again she was standing in her classroom at the front at her Professors desk. He sat where Jareth had sat in her dream, staring up at her.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked glancing up from his marking.

Sarah looked around to clear her head. She saw that the students in her class were all engrossed in their books. No one had noticed what had gone on in her head in the last few moments. She didn't know what was real anymore.

"Um, no sir," she said before retreating to her seat.

She didn't have paper to write whatever assignment the others were working on. She thought about asking one of her seat mates if she could borrow a piece but changed her mind. The assignment wouldn't be marked otherwise they would have had more time to work on it. Besides, she had no way of knowing what was reality and what was dream. Jareth had her backed against a wall.

Class ended and everyone besides Sarah handed in her paper. She headed straight for her room. When she walked inside Erin was gone. Her green dress form the night before was thrown carelessly into a basket at the end of the bed.

Sarah threw herself into bed in front of her computer. It was still dead. That meant she was probably still in the dream world. She leaned her head against the bed post. She had only passed one challenge and it made her feel like crap. How bad would the rest of the challenges be?

Just as she was closing her eyes, resigned to wait until the next challenge came to her, she heard a scratching noise coming from the room. She shot up, convinced Jareth had come to mess with her. But in the small room she should have been able to spot him if he had been.

Slowly she got out of bed to look around. But as far as she could tell there was nowhere in the small room where someone or something could hide.

Just as she was about to give up and return to her bed she heard the sound again. This time the sound came from across the room. She looked up but only saw her own reflection in the mirror. Slowly she walked towards it, knowing Jareth's games.

"Alright, Jareth, stop playing around. You could have just walked in, it isn't like I could run away anywhere," she yelled at the mirror.

But instead of Jareth's face inside she saw that it was a furry little fox riding a sheep dog.

"Didymus!" She cried.

"My lady," he bowed. "It is lovely to see that you are well."

"What are you doing in there? You're my second challenge?" She asked.

He nodded respectfully. "But the game is going to be different from now on, my lady. Hoggle's rules were nearly a test to see if you were able to handle what the game was asking. But you were doing very well my lady, better than anyone could handle in such a situation!"

"Thank you, noble sir," she bowed for him.

He grinned from ear to ear. But while seeing him made Sarah feel better his words began to worry her. If the game had changed then it would certainly be for the worse. She didn't know how much she would have to hurt her friends before she could finally be free from the monster.

"So what do I have to do, Didymus?" She asked hesitantly.

He looked somber. "The King believes that you are not ready to hear the hard truth of what is real. His words were quite harsh. To finish the challenge you must simple tell the harsh truth."

"That's childish!" She cried, "He wants to hurt me in such an awful way because I beat him?"

"It would seem so," he hung his head.

She threw her hands in the air. "Then maybe I don't want to play his stupid game!"

"Don't say that, my lady," Didymus rushed, "If you refuse to play the game then you will lose! If you lose then you will certainly be unhappy by the King's side."

Quickly she covered her mouth with her hands. She had almost forgotten that she had agreed to those conditions. If she didn't play and didn't win then she would be stuck with Jareth until he grew tired of her. As much as she would have liked to think it wouldn't take long he had followed her two years after they had first met.

"Okay," she said slowly, "This doesn't feel much like a game. All I have to do is talk to my friends. Where is the challenge?"

Didymus shook his head. "I do not know, my Lady. Perhaps it is not a game in the end. Perhaps there is another angle. The only way to know for certain is to play by the rules and get to the end."

"You're right, of course," Sarah sighed.

All the while they talked Sarah was aware that Didymus hadn't moved anything but his head. He had been completely still watching her, as though frozen in place. She wondered how he had gotten into her mirror.

"Okay, so all I have to do is tell you the truth? That shouldn't be too hard."

She thought for a moment, finding the right words in her head. When she had her thoughts in order she spoke.

"When I first met you I thought you were a bit of a jerk. You were standing in my way when I was in a hurry and wouldn't listen to reason…"

Didymus moved then, stepping out of the mirror onto the floor in front of her. He looked shocked.

"I'm sorry!" She said, thinking she had insulted him.

"No, my Lady! There is something wrong with me… I can't seem to move…" He told her, his voice unsteady.

"What? Are you okay?"

"I must be fine. But you must go on, quickly. I fear that this is not a good sign."

Sarah panicked, scrambling for words. "Okay, um, you started fighting Ludo, in the swamp, and I thought about hurting you to make you stop-"

Out of nowhere Didymus drew his sword. Without warning he lunged forward towards her. Luckily she managed to throw herself out of the way before he could do any damage. But he was quick. Before she had a chance to regain her composure he bounced off of Erin's bed and lunged for her again.

"What are you doing?!" She screamed.

"I do not know, My lady! I cannot control myself!" He cried.

She dodged him, holding her pillow in front of her as a shield. She could see in his eyes, filled with fear, that he was telling the truth. Something, or someone, was controlling him to attack her.

"What can I do?" She asked.

"Try and finished what you were saying," he lunged at her legs throwing her off balance, "Maybe it will stop me."

"I thought," she hit him with the pillow and tried to pin his small body to the ground, "that you were working with Jareth. When I got on that bridge it collapsed beneath me. But you tried to save me, even though you didn't know me."

She got on top of the pillow with Didymus underneath, struggling to keep her balance while pinning him without hurting him too much.

"So many times I wondered how you were helping our team. You were wild and didn't listen or understand when I needed you to do something that may have put me in danger."

He thrashed around under her, his teeth snapping at her hands where they held him down.

"But in the end, when we got to the castle, I realized that all you were trying to do was help. In the Labyrinth, where you lived, helping meant something different and you were trying your best for my sake. You helped me even though you had nothing to gain from it. You're my friend and I don't want to fight you!"

Suddenly he stilled. Sarah breathed heavily from the fight, on guard in case he was just trying to throw her off. But when there is no movement for a few moments she slowly moves off of the pillow.

She removed the pillow slowly. Under it she found that Didymus has disappeared, just like Hoggle had when she had faced his challenge. And just like with Hoggle there stood a small statue in his place.

A sword, just like the one Didymus always held, laid on its side. She picked it up and cradled it in the palm of her hand.

"Thank you," she whispered to the item.

With the sword tight in her hand she stood and turned towards the door. She strode quickly towards whatever lay beyond, ready to face Jareth again.


	8. Chapter 7

Note: All rights go to the real creators of the Labyrinth. I don't own any of this. Tis but a fan fiction.

Chapter 7

Sarah threw the door open expecting to see Jareth waiting for her. She expected him to smirk at her and give her an excuse for why he had used Didymus. Maybe he would mock her for trusting her friends to be stronger than him. But he wasn't there.

Instead she found herself in a large empty room with nothing but a single table in the centre. On top of the table there was a large wooden box that she recognized as the one Jareth had brought before after her first challenge. On the far side of the room there was a single door most likely leading to her next challenge.

She made her way across the room towards the table. Once there she opened the box. Inside she saw the statue she had gotten from Hoggle. She placed the sword beside it and reluctantly closed the lid.

As she made her way towards the door she wondered what was going to be her next challenge. Didymus hadn't been much of a surprise for her. If she was going to face Hoggle she figured she would eventually have to face Ludo and Didymus. But Didymus attacking her had thrown her off her game. She didn't think Jareth would truly try to hurt her.

Sure, he had done it in the previous game. But she figured that he would have gotten over that.

For the first time she wished that he had shown up. She wanted to talk to him and figure out what his game was. Why had he changed it so suddenly? Did he honestly plan to have her killed by her own friends? But he was avoiding her, for good reason probably. A lot of what she had to ask him and say to him involved yelling.

At the door she didn't hesitate. She was tired of worrying what was around every corner. Worrying that Jareth was going to appear and she was going to have to fight him. She just wanted to get it all over with.

As she stepped through the doorway she found herself in the hallway of her dorm. Without missing a beat she continued walking. As long as she was there, illusion or not, she was going to get herself something to eat.

On her way down the stairs she ran into Erin going back to her room.

"Oh hey Sar," she beamed, "I noticed you left your laptop behind today. You feeling alright?"

"Feeling fine," Sarah replied.

"You didn't hear me come in last night did you?" She asked awkwardly.

"Nope."

"Oh good! I was worried that I made too much noise. You know how it is. You think your a ninja but you are more of an elephant."

"I don't really know it but I will take your word for it." Sarah inched further away towards the next step.

Before she could make her get away Erin noticed her anxiety.

"Where you goin? Got a hot date?" Her face lit up at the possibility.

Sarah's face darkened. "Hardly. I'm going to get something to eat. Do you feel like attacking me before I get there?"

Erin laughed as though it were a joke but Sarah was serious. If this was an illusion she wouldn't put it past Jareth to throw a fast ball at her.

"That's funny, Sar. I have to go now, though. I promised my Psych prof I would stop by during office hours to talk about an assignment. See you late though!" She called as she hurried up the rest of the stairs.

Sarah shook her head and continued outside. The weather was cool for the time of year. She wasn't wearing proper clothes for walking in the wind but she wasn't going far.

Only a few buildings down is a large mess hall where dozens of students were filing in and out with bags of food.

Sarah showed her student card at the doors and went to wait in line. She got her tray of food then headed to a table where she sat alone to eat. It wasn't until she heard the enormous footsteps that she realized she was still in her dream.

All around her the students has frozen in their seats. Coming down the isle she recognizes the large form coming towards her.

She stood quickly, a smile on her face.

"Ludo!"


End file.
